Prince Harry calls home

PRINCE Harry has phoned home three times from the front line in Afghanistan, the Prince of Wales revealed yesterday.

Like any serviceman on a tour of duty, Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner Harry rang his father to catch up with family news and let everyone know he is well.

They had an emotional farewell before Harry flew to Camp ­Bastion, the UK’s biggest Afghan military base, in early September for a four-month tour.

Charles talked about his son at a Sydney reception, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, for ­Australian personnel who have recently returned from tours of duty to their partners.

The Prince chatted to Major Karl Reynolds, of 19th Chief Engineer Works, and colleagues from Garden Island, home to the Royal Australian Navy’s largest Pacific Ocean base. Charles said of the awesome firepower of the Apache: “They’re a nasty piece of work, I wouldn’t like to get in their way.”

Maj Reynolds, 33, who returned home after six months building military accommodation and airstrips in Afghanistan, said of Prince Charles: “He was saying he had received calls from his son, he said he had phoned three times.

It’s good Harry is phoning home. It’s so easy now with the internet

Maj Reynolds

“It’s good Harry is phoning home. It’s so easy now with the internet. A letter is always good but you can’t beat a call home.”

Charles said he was “immensely proud of his son” and Maj Reynolds added: “He was talking about the Apache – once the Taliban see it they disappear.”